WeSearch_DesignPrinciples

Design principles for DELPH-IN/MRS semantic representations identified during the Hankø meeting:

• Interface representation should include all information that is constrained by the grammar
• Interface representation should be highly normalized, abstracting away from details of surface syntax
• Close paraphrases should lead to comparable or identical structures in the interface representation
  • Ex: Predicative copula does not contribute an EP (The fierce dog barks ~ The dog that is fierce barks)
  • Ex: Dative alternation, passive (modulo discourse rel)
• Minimize ambiguity
  • Corollary: Differentiate lexical predicates only if that distinction corresponds to morphosyntactic differences
• Decomposition is desirable, but not a goal in itself. If the predicates required for decomposition exist, then it is good.

cf. Copestake et al 2005 and "Slacker Semantics" (Copestake 2009)